Extract

The classic work of Fraenkel, of Ancel and Bouin, and of Marshall (see Marshall, 1922, and Parkes, 1929, for discussion and references) showed conclusively that the post-ovulation changes in the accessory reproductive organs are controlled by the development of the corpus luteum. This correlation has since been worked out in considerable detail by various investigators, including Evans, and Hammond, and Courrier (see Parkes, 1929, for references), and very recently Corner and his co-workers (1929) have prepared from corpora lutea extracts capable of causing the uterine changes charateristic of the luteal phase. On the other hand, the recent intensive work on the œstrus-producing hormone, together with the delay in preparing active corpus luteum extracts, has resulted in many attempts to show that œstrin is responsible for the post-ovulation changes as well as for those typical of œstrus. In particular, the effects of œstrin on the mammary gland have been put forward as evidence that this hormone is responsible for their complete development as found at the end of pregnancy (see Parkes, 1929, for references and discussion). This supposition received superficial support from the discovery that large amounts of œstrin occur in the blood and urine during human pregnancy . Whatever the meaning of this fact that may be, however, the view that œstrin is responsible directly for the changes of the luteal phase is untenable (Marshall, 1932) and has largely arisen from inadquate acquaintance with the cycle of the normal animal.

Footnotes

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